The US State Department encouraged Israel and Palestine to start negotiations last night in a bid to overcome their differences, ITAR-TASS reports.
The peace process entered a critical phase last week, a month before the end of negotiations. After an almost 3-year break, the dialogue was restarted on July 29, 2013. Nine months were given to reach common grounds. Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian convicts. In exchange, Israel asked Palestine to abstain from gaining international recognition as an independent state. In late March, Israel postponed release of 26 convicts, saying that no progress had been achieved in 8 months.
President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas signed over 10 bids on April 1 to join international conventions and pacts of the UN. Israel cancelled the fourth phase of amnesty three days after.
